I hate answers like this, but, it depends! I've been doing some upgrading over the last year. I started the upgrade process with some pretty good speakers (magneplanar 1.6 QR) that I was ready to sell because my system sounded pretty awful. Thinking through a few questions before I started helped me significantly improve my system without overspending.
Q1. What don't I like about the current sound?
Answer: Digital glare, grain, weak bass, room resonances, poor soundstage.
Q2. What is causing what I don't like?
Answer: Digital glare--CD Player, grain-- cables and amp, weak base--amp, room resonances-- corners that needed treatment, poor stoundstage-- CDP, room, and speaker placement.
Q3. I've got a lot to upgrade, what's the biggest bang for the buck?
Answer in order of impact:
#1 Room treatment for $100 made a huge difference
#2 new DAC
#3 amp
#4 cables
The learning points for me were
1. Good speakers + bad supporting equipment & room = bad sound
2. Be patient. Try to identify weak links in the system. Upgrade one thing at a time, understand if the change fixed the perceived problem before making the next sysmtem change.
3. Look for well reviewed/high resale value equipment. This allows you to experiment and resell if your equipment if the change doesn't address the problems.
4. Have fun and enjoy the music!
Q1. What don't I like about the current sound?
Answer: Digital glare, grain, weak bass, room resonances, poor soundstage.
Q2. What is causing what I don't like?
Answer: Digital glare--CD Player, grain-- cables and amp, weak base--amp, room resonances-- corners that needed treatment, poor stoundstage-- CDP, room, and speaker placement.
Q3. I've got a lot to upgrade, what's the biggest bang for the buck?
Answer in order of impact:
#1 Room treatment for $100 made a huge difference
#2 new DAC
#3 amp
#4 cables
The learning points for me were
1. Good speakers + bad supporting equipment & room = bad sound
2. Be patient. Try to identify weak links in the system. Upgrade one thing at a time, understand if the change fixed the perceived problem before making the next sysmtem change.
3. Look for well reviewed/high resale value equipment. This allows you to experiment and resell if your equipment if the change doesn't address the problems.
4. Have fun and enjoy the music!